Sarah Lassez is a single meat inspector who is addicted to beef and is
fixated on the Catholic church. She's sleeping with a televangelist (Walter
Koenig, aka Chekov from Star Trek), her boyfriend and her butcher brother.
As the film opens, we are treated to a Japanese newsreel about mad cow
disease, then find that our heroin has some sort of brain problem, possibly
from eating beef that her butcher brother illegally obtained from Canada. I
say possibly, because we are never sure what is real and what is hallucination
in this film.

She watches a particular Kung Fu show on late night TV, fancying herself
the female heroin. After confessing her sins one day, as she is descending
into madness, she believes he has given her a penance to kill all of the Kung
Fu enemies, i.e. everyone she knows.

Mad Cowgirl is listed at IMDb as a Drama/Horror/Romance/Thriller. I could
make a case for three of those, but I didn't detect any real romance. This
film wins the offbeat energy award for 2006 effortlessly, and I say that with
the full knowledge that the year is not quite over and that I have not seen
every single release thus far. The film switches languages without rhyme or
reason. Her mother looks Asian but speaks French. The brother also looks
Asian. Her doctor speaks with her in Japanese. Many scenes are too dark to
follow, but I might accept that the darkness provided suspense and atmosphere
in this film. Finally, the ending leaves more questions than answers.

Critical response was mixed. I kind of come down on the pro side here, but
admit that this film is not for everyone. In fact, I am seriously questioning
my own taste and sanity for enjoying it.

The meaning of the IMDb
score: 7.5 usually indicates a level of
excellence equivalent to about three and a half stars
from the critics. 6.0 usually indicates lukewarm
watchability, comparable to approximately two and a half stars
from the critics. The fives are generally not
worthwhile unless they are really your kind of
material, equivalent to about a two star rating from the critics,
or a C- from our system.
Films rated below five are generally awful even if you
like that kind of film - this score is roughly equivalent to one
and a half stars from the critics or a D on our scale. (Possibly even less,
depending on just how far below five the rating
is.

Our own
guideline:

A means the movie is so good it
will appeal to you even if you hate the genre.

B means the movie is not
good enough to win you over if you hate the
genre, but is good enough to do so if you have an
open mind about this type of film. Any film rated B- or better
is recommended for just about anyone. In order to rate at
least a B-, a film should be both a critical and commercial
success. Exceptions: (1) We will occasionally rate a film B- with
good popular acceptance and bad reviews, if we believe the
critics have severely underrated a film. (2) We may also
assign a B- or better to a well-reviewed film which did not do well at the
box office if we feel that the fault lay in the marketing of
the film, and that the film might have been a hit if people
had known about it. (Like, for example, The Waterdance.)

C+ means it has no crossover appeal, but
will be considered excellent by people who enjoy this kind of
movie. If this is your kind of movie, a C+ and an A are
indistinguishable to you.

C
means it is competent, but uninspired genre fare. People who
like this kind of movie will think it satisfactory. Others
probably will not.

C- indicates that it we found it to
be a poor movie, but genre addicts find it watchable. Any film
rated C- or better is recommended for fans of that type of
film, but films with this rating should be approached with
caution by mainstream audiences, who may find them incompetent
or repulsive or both. If this is NOT your kind of movie, a C-
and an E are indistinguishable to you.

D means you'll hate it even if you
like the genre. We don't score films below C- that
often, because we like movies and we think that most of them
have at least a solid niche audience. Now that you know that,
you should have serious reservations about any movie below C-.
Films rated below C- generally have both bad reviews and poor
popular acceptance.

E means that you'll hate it even if
you love the genre.

F means that the film is not only unappealing
across-the-board, but technically inept as well.

Based on this description, this
is a C-, with the genre being "David Lynch Light," that may
appeal to some of you with a taste for the offbeat.